Archives for: April 2010, 25

04/25/10

I finally got a peephole, I don't know how or why I put off so long being without one...though it probably won't change my habit of not opening the door in the evening when I'm not expecting anyone, but it is a concern that I'm opening the door with no idea on who is on the other side.

But, being that I bought this home with no existing peephole...and being the gadget freak that I am, I wanted something fancy...

First there was the Door Scope, I had seen it in action at a few friends places...and it seemed to be the kind of thing I'd want. Except it requires a big hole and I'm not equipped to cut such a hole myself, and seemed a big investment to take on for a one time thing (hopefully).

Then I came across the Digital Door Viewer on some gadget blogs, which seemed to be exactly what I wanted to get. Except that nobody seemed to sell it, and I couldn't tell how as a consumer that I could get it from them directly.... It was also kind of pricey for something I wasn't totally sure about...and there were plenty of other gadgets that kept my discretionary funds tied up with.

Then more recently, in a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog...I spotted The Better Peephole....it was a more affordable approach to what I wanted. So, eventually, I pulled the trigger and got it. I picked it up yesterday from the UPS Store.

Wasn't sure when I'd get around to installing it....but the mood struck me this Sunday, since I didn't otherwise feel like doing anything else. So, after putting some juice into a battery pack for my drill (I had purchased a 9/16" bit on a reducing shaft to fit my 3/8" drill, some time ago in anticipation of this project). I tried to drill a hole.

Drilling through the steel of the door turned out harder than I expected...which is probably a good thing about the door. But, then once I got through, little white beads popped out....I guess somehow I thought the fill of the door was going to be something equally solid. Surprise. Guess insulating is more important....

And, finally I got it all installed. And, that's my next disappointment....the image quality is dismal. Though I guess its a standard peephole with a fixed digital camera butted up to it....having some kind of focus control would probably help.

Perhaps the Digital Door Viewer will be a future purchase, since it appears camera element that mounts through the front of the door and has a wire to the viewer on the other side....so it should get better image quality. Hmm...

Now instead of subjecting some poor random forum to a long rambling thought, I will try to consolidate those things into this blog where they can be more easily ignored profess to be collected thoughts from my mind.